Typically, in the fabrication of a tempered or toughened automotive glass pane the glass pane is heated to a bending temperature in a continuous furnace, deposited on a carriage in the form of a bending mold and bent to a prescribed contour, and toughened by rapid cooling prior to removal from the bending mold. It occasionally happens that during the process step of toughening, or immediately thereafter, that the glass pane on the bending mold will break into small crumbs and splinters. It may be apparent that all residue of the glass pane in the form of small crumbs and splinters that may adhere to the bending mold should be eliminated from its surface lest they result in undesirable impairment or deformation of a following glass pane to be transported by the bending mold in carrying out the process steps previously mentioned. To overcome the possibility of undesirable impairment or deformation of a glass pane caused by situating the glass pane on the bending mold, typically a peripheral bending mold, and the residue it may carry, the bending mold is subjected to cleansing by one or more jets of air. According to the prior art, the bending mold will be subjected to the cleaning step by air from the air jets each and every time the mold returns to the location for deposit of a second and each subsequent glass pane for movement through the processing stations.
The known prior art, therefore, requires a considerable use of power and consequently the fabrication process is subject to increased costs through the implementation of an air jetting procedure during each return movement of the bending mold.